Weather Sensors Being Installed Near Site of Paulsboro, NJ Derailment and Spill
By David Madden
PAULSBORO, N.J. (CBS) -- A $150,000 grant from the State of New Jersey will put several weather stations along the rail line and near the site where a Conrail freight train derailed in Paulsboro two years ago.
The plan is to have a better idea of atmospheric conditions in the event of another accident.
Time is precious when you're dealing with a chemical leak. Crews had to set up a mobile weather station at the time of the accident.
Once these new sensors are put in place, officials will be able to decide much sooner when, or if, to call for an evacuation.
If they had been in place two years ago, Gloucester County emergency management coordinator Thomas Butts muses, "I think we would have had the information a little more timely. And would it have made a difference? I can't answer that."
Half of Paulsboro was evacuated for several days in the wake of the derailment at a drawbridge.
The new weather stations are expected to be in operation early next year.